This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z 12/19/2018

by Ricky Dimon - 12/19/2018

A. Alex Ovechkin . Not one, not two, not three, not four…not eight, not nine…. No, Ovechkin has scored an unbelievable 10 goals in the Capitals' last six games, including two hat-tricks. He is leading the NHL by four with 29. Washington is a -135 home favorite over Pittsburgh on Wednesday, per BetOnline Sportsbook.

B. Brooks . Seriously, how can two sports franchises mix up two players named Brooks while making a trade? Like, it's just not. that. complicated. But it was for the Suns and Grizzlies, as Phoenix thought it was getting Dillon Brooks instead of MarShon Brooks from Memphis. The Grizz thought the opposite. Thus the deal fell through and the Suns eventually shipped Trevor Ariza to Washington and didn't bother dealing with Memphis.

C. Christmas lineup . The NBA lineup isn't completely loaded this time around, but it does feature two especially intriguing matchups: Philadelphia at Boston and the Lakers at Golden State. The Warriors are -180 at GT Bets to win the NBA title.

D. Dallas Cowboys . What a difference a week makes. Coming off a dramatic overtime defeat of Philadelphia, the Cowboys went into Indianapolis last Sunday and got embarrassed 23-0. Amari Cooper, who had 217 yards and three touchdowns on 10 receptions against the Eagles, was held to four catches for 32 yards. Does Skip Bayless still actually think this team is a contender in the NFC?

E. English Premier League . Manchester United's Premier League woes continued with a 3-1 loss to Liverpool this past weekend. The Red Devils dropped to 7-5-5 and are now an insurmountable 19 points back of the first-place Reds on the table, eight points out of fifth (Arsenal) and 11 out of fourth (Chelsea). "We can still finish fourth," manager Jose Mourinho indicated. "It is not easy. For sure, for sure we are going to finish in the top six but the best we can get is fourth." If United does finish fourth, Mourinho won't be around to see it! He got sacked on Tuesday. BookMaker has Man U as a -175 favorite over Cardiff City on Saturday.

F. Flyers . On the heels of a four-game losing streak that dropped the Flyers to last place in the Eastern Conference, they fired head coach Dave Hakstol earlier this week. That came a month after general manager Ron Hextall got the boot. Hakstol…Hextall…. Not a good time to have that kind of name in Philadelphia. But it is a good time to be Carter Hart, as the 20-year-old goalie made his NHL debut on Tuesday and helped Philly end its skid with a 3-2 victory over Detroit.

G. Gonzaga . The Zags preceded Tuesday's 89-55 rout of Texas-Arlington with back-to-back setbacks against Tennessee and North Carolina. Still, this is a team that boasts a win over Duke. Bovada Sportsbook has Gonzaga as a +1000 third choice to win the National Championship.

H. Henderson, Darrell . Memphis will be without its star running back in the Birmingham Bowl against Wake Forest this coming Saturday, as Henderson recently announced that he will focus on the 2019 NFL Draft. Henderson, a junior, is second all-time in school history in rushing yards (3,545), all-purpose yards (4,790), 100-yard rushing games (16), and total touchdowns (45). He finished 10th in this year's Heisman Trophy voting. Do you even need an excuse to justify missing the Birmingham Bowl? The Tigers are -3.5 favorites over the Demon Deacons, according to MyBookie.ag.

I. Irish . Notre Dame senior guard Rex Pflueger will miss the rest of the season due to a torn ACL suffered during last weekend's win over Purdue. Pflueger was averaging 8.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. Oh well, at least the Fighting Irish are good at football!

J. Jordan, Michael . If you get touched by His Airness, is it a good thing even it comes in the form of a slap? Maybe so. Slapped is exactly what Malik Monk got after he ran off the bench and onto the court while celebrating a go-ahead three-pointer with 0.3 seconds left in the Hornets' game against Detroit last week. They still held on to win 108-107. YouWager.eu has Charlotte as a -12.5 home favorite over Cleveland on Wednesday.

K. Kevin Kisner . "They all hate him-any guys that were on the team with him (at Georgia) hate him and that's the same way at Augusta. I don't know that they'd piss on him if he was on fire, to tell you the truth." !!!!!!!!!. That's what Kisner recently had to say about former teammate Patrick Reed. Outside of Tiger vs. anyone, give me Kisner vs. Reed in the final round of a major next year….

L. LeBron . Looking more like an Olympic speedskater than the best basketball player on the planet, LeBron played defense with his hands behind his back at one point during the Lakers' loss to the Rockets last Thursday. He was, of course, protesting ticky-tack fouls. Even without hands, he's still a better defender than anyone on the entire Hawks roster! Houston is a -11 home favorite over Washington on Wednesday, as indicated by BookMaker.

M. Miss Universe . Catriona Gray, the reigning Miss Philippines, was crowned Miss Universe on Monday. Not Alex Morgan? Not Genie Bouchard? Not Gisele?

N. NASA . Timeline of these way-overblown events: Curry goes on the Kent Bazemore-Vince Carter podcast. Curry questions moon landing. NASA invites Curry for instructional tour the next time he's in Houston. Curry accepts. Curry says he was just joking. Curry still accepts. He is +750 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win NBA MVP.

O. Ousmane Dembele . The 21-year-old French forward scored a brilliant goal in FC Barcelona's 4-0 win over Espanyol last Saturday. One day later, Dembele was two hours late to practice. He sounds like the second coming of Mario Balotelli…or Allen Iverson.

P. Phillies . Are the Phillies still in the running for Bryce Harper? Whatever the case, they signed outfielder Andrew McCutchen during last week's winter meetings. Philadelphia is +1600 at XBet.ag to win the World Series.

Q. Quack . That's the sound you hear right now in Oregon, where 2019 No. 1 overall recruit Kayvon Thibodeaux committed last week. The Ducks already had the sixth-rated recruiting class before landing the star defensive end from California.

R. Realmuto, J.T. It looks like Realmuto could remain with the Marlins after all. The 27-year-old catcher has been trade-bait for Atlanta, Cincinnati, New York (both Yankees and Mets), and Tampa Bay in recent weeks, but the Braves-who had been considered the favorites-reportedly backed out last weekend and the Mets signed catcher Wilson Ramos. Another season with the Marlins? Ouch!

S. Stephen A. Smith . In the span of 30 seconds on "First Take" while previewing last Thursday's Chargers-Chiefs game, Smith made four obvious errors. That's bad even by his standards! Three of his keys to the game were Spencer Ware, Hunter Henry, and Derrick Johnson. Well...Ware is out, Henry hasn't played the entire season due to injury, and Johnson is not in the NFL right now. He also called them the San Diego Chargers. LOLOLOLOL.

T. Thursday Night Football . Stephen A.'s prediction for the game also came up short-even though it should have been a big winner. The Chiefs led by 14 points in the final four minutes only to watch Los Angeles come up with a touchdown, an extra point, a touchdown, and a two-point conversion. Phillip Rivers' back-to-back strikes to Mike Williams with four seconds left (one for a TD and another for two) gave the Chargers an improbable 29-28 victory. Kansas City is a -2.5 favorite at Seattle on Sunday night, per Bovada Sportsbook.

U. UEFA Champions League . Good news for Manchester United: it still has a chance in the Champions League. Bad news for Manchester United: a chance? Well, not really. The round of 16 draw took place last weekend and Man U has to go up against Paris Saint-Germain. The two other intriguing matchups are Juventus vs. Atletico Madrid and Liverpool vs. Bayern Munich.

V. Vick, Lagerald . Vick poured in 29 points on 9-for-15 shooting to go along with seven rebounds during Kansas' 74-71 win over Villanova this past Saturday. The Jayhawks are now 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in both polls.

W. Wentz, Carson . Is it déjà vu all over again in Philadelphia? Wentz is out with an injury (most likely for the last two regular-season games and for any potential playoff appearance) and Nick Foles is in. The reigning Super Bowl MVP led-or more like rode his defense-to an upset of the Rams last Sunday night. 5Dimes Sportsbook has the Eagles as -1 home favorites over Houston in Week 16.

X. Ten . Ten-as in the magic number to get a triple-double. Two different Lakers delivered them during a 128-100 rout of Charlotte last weekend. LeBron went for 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, while Lonzo Ball finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Y. Youngstown State . It's not every day that a coach refers to an opponent he just lost to as "we," but that was the case-well, sort of-on Tuesday. After getting beat by Ohio State in basketball, YSU's Jerrod Calhoun called himself a diehard Buckeyes football fan. "We've got one more game to send coach (Urban) Meyer out on top," the Cleveland native quipped.

Z. Denotes clinched division . Now three of the four NFC divisions have been locked down, with zero of their AFC counterparts having the same distinction through 15 weeks. The Bears wrapped things up in the NFC North by improving to 10-4 with a 24-17 defeat of rival Green Bay. Chicago is +550 at MyBookie.ag to win the NFC Championship.

Start:	November 22, 2024 @ 8:00 PM
Expert:	Raphael Esparza (VSI)
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